Dan James features Fulham a unique No 9 profile

When you get rid of 4 Premier League game titles on the spin, it’s commonly a sign that the workforce involves a shake-up.

Fulham experienced been in threat of allowing for a memorable season to peter out, ruffled by the setback of dropping star striker Aleksandar Mitrovic to an eight-recreation ban.

Even so, Marco Silva was staunch in believing his squad nevertheless experienced the staff to pose a threat in attack.

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“We have a distinct profile of a phony 9 — Bobby De Cordova-Reid, Daniel James — and to develop unique scenarios for us to arrive in particular areas and to attempt to halt the opposition side’s command in the same way,” Silva stated in his pre-match press conference.

“The most important particular person for the placement is Carlos Vinicius but we have other methods we can perform with.”

Silva identified individuals alternatives versus Everton as he returned to Goodison Park for the initially time given that leaving the club in December 2019.

The consequence was one particular of Fulham’s greatest displays for some time.

Rather than Vinicius, it was James who was reliable to direct the line by Silva, starting up for Fulham for just the fourth time in the Leading League — and a first get started in a No 9 part.

Immediately after Everton struggled so a lot last weekend with runners in behind their significant defensive line, the system from Silva seemed obvious.

“We modified the profile of our No 9 to use James as a striker due to the fact we preferred to discover some things in their back again line, in behind the two central defenders, with Harry Wilson on the proper aspect as very well,” said Silva after the match. “We did definitely properly, the gamers took to the system.”

Silva’s aspect did simply click in the new set up, but it took a even though to maximise James’ vital characteristics.

In the initially fifty percent, Everton snuffed out direct balls performed up to James, who — at 5ft 7in (171cm) — merely doesn’t have the exact same focus on-guy profile as Mitrovic or even Vinicius.

James contested seven aerial duels in the activity — all of them in the initial half — as he, unsurprisingly, came off second-greatest against Michael Keane.

Nevertheless, Fulham furnished James with options in the second half as his team-mates looked for a lot more focused passes in the channels for the Welshman to extend his legs.

As Kenny Tete drives ahead, we see James run throughout James Tarkowski to acquire the ball in space to the touchline rather than functioning into a congested spot.

This drags Tarkowski absent from the defensive line, opening up gaps somewhere else for his team-mates to exploit…

… which they did to comprehensive influence as Wilson capped off the flowing transfer to put Fulham 2-1 ahead — with James integral to the sequence.

To cement his improved 2nd-50 % efficiency, James was deserving of his objective that put Fulham 3-1 ahead.

How did it come about? Operates into the channels, of system.

Right here, Tete’s lofted no cost kick looks to discover James’s run in driving, forcing each Everton centre-backs to experience their possess goal — a stark contrast to their initially-fifty percent purpose towards the Welshman.

James plucks the ball out of the air and — with a slice of luck off Keane’s trailing leg — sets the ball wonderfully to roll it past Jordan Pickford with his still left foot.

From 17 touches and participating in into the fingers of an aerially dominant Everton back line in the first fifty percent, James’ 23 next-half touches had been notably extra impactful as he pulled his opponents still left and right with his darting runs.

“The to start with 50 percent was not truly obvious since, in some moments, we did it (passed to James) a minor little bit gradually,” Silva told The Athletic of James’s function.

“The 2nd fifty percent was absolutely diverse in how we explored the channels, with the area involving the two central defenders and the ball in powering. It’s a thing that we geared up and they did really well.”

You’d be forgiven for labelling James as a thing of a overlooked guy these days, with the Welshman struggling for video game time in 2022-23.

Immediately after his shift from Swansea Metropolis to Manchester United in 2019, the 25-calendar year-old’s trajectory has not been fairly as steep in the previous 18 months, with his loan transfer to Fulham from Leeds United placing his vocation at a crossroads very last summer months.

Typical online games will be the main goal for James in the ultimate weeks of the period, acquiring clocked just 484 Premier League minutes considering the fact that he arrived in west London.

Performances like his one at Everton will do his possibilities of even more match time no harm, as he additional a different dimension to Fulham’s assault in the absence of Mitrovic.

Just about every member of Fulham’s front line place on a excellent screen in Merseyside, with neat interchanges and smart rotations concerning James, Wilson and Willian pulling Everton’s defensive line out of placement.

In a week when Silva called for more of his players to chip in with aims for the team, he received the precise response he desired: 3 objectives, three goalscorers and an conclude to their 4-game losing streak.

For James, the pleasure of his good display screen will be satisfied with a tinge of annoyance that he will be unable to perform in subsequent weekend’s match from parent club Leeds.

He was just obtaining into his stride.

(Top image: Marc Atkins/Getty Pictures)